From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.3 required=5.0 tests=MAILING_LIST_MULTI, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE,SUBJ_OBFU_PUNCT_FEW autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 15336 invoked from network); 28 May 2020 12:41:26 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (45.79.103.53) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 28 May 2020 12:41:26 -0000 Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 026A99C913; Thu, 28 May 2020 22:41:20 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 29B5C9C5E8; Thu, 28 May 2020 22:40:44 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id D0D0B9C5E8; Thu, 28 May 2020 22:40:41 +1000 (AEST) X-Greylist: delayed 363 seconds by postgrey-1.36 at minnie.tuhs.org; Thu, 28 May 2020 22:40:41 AEST Received: from marmaro.de (marmaro.de [176.28.23.198]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0AD359C5E5 for ; Thu, 28 May 2020 22:40:40 +1000 (AEST) Received: by marmaro.de (masqmail 0.3.6-dev, from userid 1000) id 1jeHk5-5LM-00 for ; Thu, 28 May 2020 14:34:37 +0200 To: tuhs@tuhs.org User-Agent: meillo's mail handler (mmh) X-License: CC0 (http://marmaro.de/rights) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-ID: <20542.1590669277.1@marmaro.de> Date: Thu, 28 May 2020 14:34:37 +0200 From: markus schnalke Message-ID: <1jeHk5-5LM-00@marmaro.de> Subject: [TUHS] fmt(1): history, POSIX, -t, -c X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" Hoi, personally I use fmt(1) a lot for email formatting and such. Typically I only use the `-w' parameter. Now someone asked me about `-t' and `-c' of *GNU* fmt(1). I wasn't able to find good documentation on them. The manpage only tells that they have to do with different indentation for the first or first two lines. But what are the use cases? How would source text for these parameters look like? A look into the description and rationale sections of POSIX, which often provides helpful information, was not possible because fmt(1) is not part of POSIX (only fold(1) is). Why's that? Is it because fmt(1) differs so much between Unix implementations? On BSD `-c' centers text and `-t' sets tab widths. Plan 9 has none of these options. But still, `-w' could have been standardized. Or was the line filling algorithm different as well? How does fold(1) fit into the picture? Maybe you can answer some of these questions or give hints on where I could find answers myself. meillo